Lead wire preparation for threading fluorescent bases



United States Patent 5/1965 Kinseretal.....;.............

Primary Examiner-Lowell A. Larson ArromeysA. T. Stratton, W. D. Palmerand B. R. Studebaker 72 Inventor" G m D A E .m M n 1 m m m 0, n F e N P0 'l o n I s m new n A w w n -a RT m P n a B B E6 E WRM D0 m m LE7 M w[21 1 Appl. No. [22] Filed [73] Assignee into substantially the sameplane. A pair of cam operated ween the sandwich plates forcing 140/147;72/15 c Dig defences/cued settingblades then slide bet UNITED STATESPATENTS 3,013,590 12/196! the lead wires against the edges of the spacerplate/to thereby set the lead wires in a straight and parallel conditionfor 140/147 receiving the lamp base.

Patented Nov. 24, 1970 r 3,542,088

Sheet 2 of5 f Pa tente d Nov.'24, 1970 3,542,088

Duringthe various operations required in the manufacture of afluorescent lamp prior to the threading onto the extending lead wires ofthe base member or end cap. the outwardly extending-lead wires arecausedto be moved, bent and disturbed during handling in a manner whichoften leaves them is a skewed relationship. Itis desirable that theseoutwardly extending lead wires be both straight and substantiallyparallel when the lamp reaches a point in the manufacturing processwhere the'base members are threaded onto each end of the lamp. The basicdifficulty with present day equipment which may take the form ofcounterotating brushes or clam shell-like.

gripping mechanisms, which may or may notinclude comb teeth on the endsthereof, is thatthey have not performed satisfactorily for the reasonthat bends previously placed in the wires during manufacture areextremely difficult to remove and when the lamp reaches the basethreading head there is difficulty in finding the wires and even thoughthe wires are on a correct centerline distance the base mountingequipment has difficultyin pushing the base down onto leads which areoften neither straight, parallel nor vertical.

' One solution to this problem is disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,286,323 toE. Bastiaanse issued Nov.22,' 1966. To employ this device the lead wiresmust bepreviouslycut to a selected length and be in a reasonablyparallel relationship. In addition, this operation also contemplates thedirect application of the end cap or base in conjunction with the leadwire preparation which may not in all cases be desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide amechanism by which a search, gather and 'setaction canfb'e applied'totheoutwardly extending leadjwires of a fluorescent larn'p'l Another objectof this invention is toset the lead wires on a fluorescent lamp in sucha-manner that they will stand vertical and parallel to eachother tofacilitate thereception of a fluorescent lamp base. Y

A still further object of this invention is to provide 'a method wherebythe lead wires extending froma partially fabricated fluorescent lamp maybe set in a vertical and parallel relationship in preparation forreceiving a fluorescent lamp base.

' These and other objects are accomplished in accordance with thepresent invention by providing, in a mechanism for gathering and settinga pair of skewed lead wires of a fluorescent lamp into a straight andparallel relationship; a first platemember which has a raised spacingmember on the face thereof which extends from the first plate member adistance slightly in excessof the diameter of the lead wires and has alateral dimension approximately equivalent to the space between saidlead wires attheir juncture witht'he lamp. A second plate member ismovable into en'gagement with the raised spacing member to-defme aplanar channel on each side'- FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the leadwire preparation mechanism of the present invention with portions of themechanism broken away for purposes of clarity;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of a portion of the mechanism of thepresent invention with the pivotal sandwich plate in an open position; i

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view,-partially in section, of themechanism of the present invention similar to the FIG. 2 cmbodirnentwith the pivotal sandwich plate in a closed position;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the lead wire straighteningmechanism of thepresent invention with the pivotal sandwich plate inaclosed position; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are front elevational views'similar to FIG. 4 with thesandwich plates removed to better illustrate the operation of the camactuated setting blades.

, DESCRlPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT reference characters representlike parts throughout the several views, ther'e is-shown in FIG. 1 anisometricfview of the lead wire preparing mechanism of the presentinvention. As illustrated in phantom in FIG; I, a fluorescent lampgenerally designated 10 and having a pair of skewed or bent lead wires11 and 12 extending therefrom will proceed along a fluorescent lampassembly line to a point'where the. lead wires must be prepared forreceiving a base or end cap. Although the lead wire straighteningmechanism of the present invention will be shownand described withrespect to the preparastraight and parallel configuration prior toreceiving a fluorescent base. As illustrated in FIG..2, when afluorescent lamp '10 is indexed from position Ato position the leadwires 11 and '12 will generally .be .bent or skewed in a direction awayfrom the direction of travel indicated by the arrow and also away fromeach other. As the fluorescent tube reaches position B, the sandwichplate mechanism which includes a fixed sandwich plate 14, having a leadwire guide'member 16 and a spacer plate or anvil 18 on the face thereof,will be in a raised position, having released the previouslamp,.asillustrated in FIG. 2.'Movable lamp gripper arm 20 will be inthe position illustrated in phantom in .FIG. 4. The movablesandwichplate.

22 is mounted for slight pivotal movement in a yoke 24 on one end ofthebellcrank 26 which is pivotally mounted on the sandwich plate frame28 as shown at 30 in FIG. 2. Adjustable the edge of the raised-spacingmember to thereby set the lead wires in a straight and parallelrelationship.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING push rod 32 is connected at one end tothe other arm of bellcrank26 and at its other end to actuating lever 34.

As best illustrated .in FIG. 1, operating rod 36 is connected through ayoke type pivot to the end of operating level-arm 38 which is at itsother end pivotable about a shaft 40 fixed to the frame 42 of themachineQA second push rod 44 is pivotally mounted to operating lever 38at 46(FIG. 4) and includes a spring overtr'avelmechanism 48, thefunction of which will be later described. The oth'efend of push rod 44is pivotally connected to one end of L-shaped arm 50 which is pivotedproximate its midpoint at 52 to the machine frame 42 and which at itsother endcarries movable lamp gripper 20.

A second operating lever arm 52 is also pivoted at its end 54 aboutshaft 40 and carries at its other end, in a yoke type pivotal fashion, asecondoperating rod 56. The operating rod 56 has'affixed at its one end,the setting blade mechanism generally designated 60 (FIGS. 5 and 6)which includes a yoke member 62 having pivotally mounted thereon at 64 apair of downwardly extending blade carrying arms 66. At the otherend ofarms 66 are mounted a pair of oppositely disposed setting blades 68. Thearms 66 are urged toward each other about their pivot points 64 by aspring 70 and held apart by a pair of rollers 72 coacting with camsurfaces 74 which are a part of the machine frame 42.

In operation, the fluorescent tube generally designed moves from the Aposition of FIG. 2 to the B position by means of the indexing conveyor(not shown) which carries the fluorescent bulb from one work station toanother in the fabrication process. As indicated previously, when thefluorescent tube is in position B the sandwich plate mechanism is in araised position as illustrated in FIG. 2 having just released therefromthe preceding fluorescent tube in the production cycle. At this pointoperating lever arm 38 is activated by a drive mechanism (not shown)which causes it to pivot about rod 40 thus moving operating rod 36 in adownward direction causing lead wire guide 16 to descend between thelead wires 11 and 12 until the notched-out edge portion 15 on theunderside of sandwich plate 14 (FIG. 1) contacts and slightly depressesthe upper edge of the bulb 10 causing it to move slightly downwardly inthe releasable gripping mechanism (not shown) by which the fluorescenttubes are carried on the lamp indexing mechanism. As the operating rod36 descends, as will be best seen in FIG. 4, push rod 44 descends alesser extent causing movable gripper' arm to engage the lamp tube 10while the spring overtravel 48 prevents excessive pressure from beingapplied to the wall of the fluorescent tube thus preventing breakage ofthe tube by the gripper arm as it forces the tube against fixed tubegripper 21 which is mounted to the frame v42 as shown in FIG. 1. Withthe sandwich plate mechanism in the FIG. 3 position but open asillustrated in FIG. 2 the operating lever arm 34 is now actuated by thedrive mechanism (not shown) causing crank arm 26 to pivot about itspivot point 30 through the downward movement of push rod 32 causingmovable sandwich plate 22 to pivot against spacer plate or anvil 18 thussubstantially imprisoning lead wires 11 and 12 in planar slots on eitherside of spacer plate 18 between the sandwich plates 14 and 22.

The lead wires 11 and 12 now lie as illustrated in FIG. 3 between thesandwich plates 22 and 14 and have been gathered into substantially asingle plane. With the sandwich plate mechanism in this position thesetting blade mechanism is in the position illustrated in FIG. 5 withthe cam rollers 72 in contact with the portion 74a of cam surface 74 andthe setting blades 68 positioned with the lead wire engaging edges 69disposed beneath the upper end of the fluorescent tube 10. At this pointin the operation of the mechanism operating lever arm 52 is raised by adrive mechanism (not shown) causingoperating rod 56 to rise thus liftingthe setting blade mechanism in an upward direction. As the setting blademechanism rises, cam rollers 72 carried by the arms 66 which are urgedtoward each other by spring 70 first ride along cam surfaces 741: sothat the blades are held a sufficient distance apart to clear the edgesof the fluorescent tube 10. As operating rod 56 continues to rise andsetting blade mechanism 60 continues to rise with it, the cam rollers 72coact next with the cam surfaces 74b and start to move slightly towardeach other as the setting blades 68 enter the planar slot betweensandwich plates 14 and 22. As the setting blade mechanism nears the topof its stroke, cam' rollers 72 ride lastly on cam surfaces 740 and thesetting blades 68 move rapidly toward each other carrying with them leadwires 11 and 12 until the lead wires are forced against the side edgesof spacer plate 18.

The lead wires 11 and 12 are now both parallel and straight and arespaced apart a distance substantially equivalent to the width of thespacer plate or evil anvil 18. Operating lever arm 52 is now reversed inits direction of travel and the setting blades 68 removed from theplanar slot between the sandwich plates 14 and 22. Lever arm 34 is nowraised causing the movable sandwich plate 22 to move away from itsengagement with spacer plate 18 and during this same motion operatingrod 36 is also raised. lifting fixed sandwich plate 14 to a posi tionabove the top ends of the lead wires 11 and 12 while movable gripper arm20 is also removed. The fluorescent lamp with its lead wires 11 and 12in a straight and parallel configuration is now freed from the lead wirestraightening mechanism and may be moved out of position B of FIG. 2while the next succeeding lamp is indexed from position A to position B.

As will be apparent, the width of spacer plate 18 is fairly critical andmust be designed so that when setting blades 68 force the lead wiresagainst the edges of the spacer plate, compensation is made for theslight spring back inherent to a greater or lesser extent depending uponamong other things the resiliency and gage of the wire. Slight deviationfrom a truly straight and parallel configuration is of coursepermissible since the openings in the base or end cap through which thelead wires are eventually threaded are of a substantially greaterdiameter than that of the lead wires.

As will be seen from the foregoing, the lead wire straighteningmechanism of the present invention provides a quick and accurate methodfor rendering the lead wires of a fluorescent tube both straight andparallel in preparation for receiving the end cap or base which isplaced onto the ends of the fluorescent lamp during the next succeedingfabrication step.

Although a specific embodiment of the present invention has beenillustrated and described, it will be apparent that numerous changes maybe made without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention andit is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description orshown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense. IClaim:

1. A mechanism for gathering and setting a pair of skewed lead wires ofa partially fabricated fluorescent lamp to a straight and parallelrelationship comprising:

a first plate member having a raised spacing member on the face thereof,said raised spacing member extending from the face of said first platemember a distance slightly in excess of the diameter of said lead wiresand having a lateral dimension approximately equivalent to the spacebetween said lead wires at their juncture with the lamp;

a second plate member having a face portion thereon and movable intoengagement with said raised spacing member to define a planar channelbetween the faces of said first and second plate members in which a leadwire is confined on each side of said raised spacing member; and

a setting blade device including a pair of oppositely disposed blademembers movable into said planar channel between said first and secondplate members to force a lead wire disposed in said channel against theedge of said raised spacing member to thereby set said lead wires in astraight and parallel relationship.

rod and includes resilient means urging said blade members into saidchannel and cam means restraining said blade members from movement intosaid channel in response to the urging of said resilient means.

3. The mechanism defined in claim 2 wherein said resilient means is aspring interconnecting said oppositely disposed blade members and saidcam means includes a roller fixed to each of said blade members andassociated cam surfaces on said mechanism whereby said blade membersarea urged into said planar channels by said interconnecting spring assaid rollers move along said associated cam surfaces in response tovertical movement of said operating rod.

4. A mechanism for gathering and setting a pair of skewed t lead wiresof a partially fabricated fluorescent lamp into a spring means andincluding means associated with said blade members and said frame forcontrolling the rate of movementof said blade members into said planarchannel under the influence of said spring means.

6. The mechanism defined in claim wherein said means as sociated withsaid blade members and said frame-include a cam roller on each of saidblade members pair of cam surfaces on'said frame; 7. The method ofgathering and setting a pair of skewed lead and an associated -wires ofa partially fabricated fluorescent lamp into a straight andparallelrelationship for receiving a lamp base comprising the steps of:

gathering the lead wires into substantially the same plane by confiningeach lead wire within a separate three-sided compartment through themovement of one of said sides toward a'second of said sides; andthereafter setting the lead wires in a straight and parallelrelationship within said compartmentsby movinga fourth side of each ofsaid compartment toward the third side of each of said compartments.

